Legend of Mortalitas
by Elielephant
Summary: A bloodthirsty pirate, the Captain of the Titans. Hungry for chaos, the sweet taste of blood as he ruled over decades of violence across the Four Blues hundreds of years ago, an era where the blood ran thick behind his ship. Whenever an island or ship saw the Bloody Titan's tattered crimson sails with skull and cross bones, no mercy would come. This was the Legend of Mortalitas.


I feel as if I shouldn't upload _another_ story that I probably won't finish until, like, a long time from now, but this was like a pest that won't leave me alone. So, I had to do something about it; maybe if enough people like it I'll be faster to add more, who knows.

This is a bit of a AU, more of a 'traditional' pirate theme to it, but still with the One Piece theme of, Roger, his gold and devil fruit. I have it planned out, and I'm confident it will work.

And **FYI**: I'm planning on making this more graphic, if that's possible for a cookie-cutter writer like me, so for safety, I'm making this M.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but plot and OCs are mine.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Legend

The flip-flop of sandals traveled across the creaky floorboards briskly and a giggly shadow zipped over the walls illuminated a bright yellow by the lanterns swinging above the bar. Then there was a moment of silence, safe for the squeaking of a rag against glass and a spoon dipping into a bowl filled with a boiling stew.

But then a deep sigh broke the quiet state as the spoon clinked against the bar's tabletop. "I know you're there. Your stealth so happens to suck, big time."

There was only more blissful giggling to the comment, unconcerned by the words, and then the shuffling of feet moved closer to the bar.

Turning away from his meal, he looked up to the lovely bartender, Makino, who merely smiled at him before she went back to her task of cleaning beer glasses. With another sigh, he closed his eyes and shook his head when in the background, he heard someone run blindly into a leg table, making the entire thing titter uneasily. A rush of hands slapped the wood to settle the object before it tipped over and curses followed after.

"I wonder what he's trying to do, something stupid, probably," he mumbled to Makino, but in the process mildly teasing the little sneak in the background.

Makino, still focused on cleaning the glass, shrugged lightly. "He's probably out to steal your treasure, Shanks," she replied, jerking her head towards the small oak-stained chest beside him. "He does have quite the tab for my place," she added with a tiny wink.

Shanks smirked as he placed his spoon between his teeth and balanced it there. "Not in a million years will he get this," he boasted proudly, patting the top of the chest gingerly. "He won't get it because—" he paused when two tiny hands reached out to grab the chest, and Shanks snatched it up quickly and held it out of reach. "—his stealth sucks, _big time_," he repeated with a firm chuckle as he placed the chest back on the bar top.

"Shuddup, Shanks!" The boy shouted as he leaned over Shanks, trying to make another break for the chest. "Come on, Shanks! Let me see it, pretty please!"

"After you tried to take it," Shanks's brow rose, amused. "Fat chance, Luffy."

Luffy's nostrils flared and his brows knotted together. "That's not fair! What's the point of carrying a treasure chest around if you don't show anyone?"

"To keep it save from grubby little kid hands," Shanks answered bluntly as he waved a hand to Makino, signaling her to get the boy a drink.

Luffy's face blistered a deep shade of crimson red as his cheeks puffed out. "Darn it Shanks! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Oh don't be mad," Shanks smiled lightly and motioned to the glass Makino had put out for the boy. "Here, drink some juice."

The anger flare melted from Luffy's face and he grinned happily and picked up the glass. "Okay! Thanks!" and he gulped it down eagerly.

Shanks tried to hold in the snickers, but he couldn't keep it locked down and he burst into a hysterical fit laughter. "You really are a kid! How funny!" He bellowed with a large smile as tears collected at the corner of his eyes; even Makino started to giggle at the sight.

Luffy's happy expression switched back to a sour one quickly. "What a dirty trick!" He roared as steam poured from his ears and his brows furrowed with rage. But then he turned way from Shanks in an angry huff, still sipping at his glass of juice. "You're just a mean old man."

Shanks's laughter simmered down to chuckles and then he reached over and patted Luffy's head with a small smirk. "Why don't I make it up to you with a story, eh?"

Luffy perked up curiously and looked over at Shanks with a brow raised. "What kinda story? One 'bout Gold Rogers and One Piece again? I love those story!" Luffy eagerly said jumping up and down in his seat, which made him spill his juice all over his shirt, not that that boy even noticed.

Shanks hummed in thought as he tapped his chin; that story, though a classic, was getting old. He may have been a cabin boy back in the day for the former King, but still he liked to shake things up every once in awhile. But then again…what story would be better than personal stories about the King of Pirates? Then it clicked; why a story told to him by the King himself would be the best to tell, right? And especially now that he had more…recent information to add to the tale told to him years ago, making it all the better.

"Nah, I told you those type hundreds of times. I'm gonna tell you something different tonight."

Luffy looked slightly deflated when he heard he wouldn't get the normal story.

Shanks patted him on the back to bring life back to the boy. "Come on; chin up! This is a good story," he told Luffy. "It's a story Roger himself told me when I was on his ship."

A curious glow came to Luffy's wide eyes when he heard that and he sat completely still. "What's it about?" He whispered quietly, waiting eagerly to get the answer.

Shanks leaned against the bar, pausing to add dramatic affect, which caused Luffy to fidget impatiently. Then he finally spoke. "This is the Legend of Mortalitas."

* * *

_When the waters were still at night and the moon was full, we all sat on deck, drinking booze in the hazy light cast by torch light. Then old Roger himself would come from his cabin and sit upon an old crate, joining the party after a raid of a ship or island. He would sit there with a tanker of beer in hand as he smirked, watching his crew dance 'bout the deck. He was silent for a moment, but only a mere moment. When he spoke, the crew listened. And this is when I first heard the Legend of Mortalitas._

_It was the legend of an old bloodthirsty pirate, the Captain of the Titans. Hungry for chaos, the sweet taste of blood as he ruled over decades of violence across the Four Blues hundreds of years ago, an era where the blood ran thick behind his ship. Whenever an island or ship saw the Bloody Titan's tattered crimson sails with skull and cross bones, they knew no mercy would come. Their fates were sealed with death and the Reaper was waiting, following those crimson sails wherever they went._

_Mortalitas never took prisoners, he killed everyone in his path no matter if it was a military man or a mother with child, Mortalitas cut them down, he and his crew of Titans._

_What the heck! What kind of person kills a lady and her kid!_

_Luffy, I'm telling a story here…_

_But why Shanks! Why would this guy be so mean!_

_…Because he's a pirate Luffy._

_You're a pirate, too, Shanks! Do you do that!_

_No, but Luffy there are different types of pirates—hey! Don't sidetrack me here! I'm telling a story, just like you wanted, Luffy._

_Okay, okay, sorry Shanks._

_Alrighty then; where was I…ah yes! Mortalitas showed no mercy to any one he came across._

_There was none that could stand up to him when he was in his prime. He killed and he stole. He built a treasure hold that Roger said he even tried to look for, but failed with nowhere to go with multiple rumors that led to dead ends every turn. Mortalitas's stash was not some weak little thing that anyone could go after because it held something more valuable than gold. It is said that it held the key to what Mortalitas strode from most of all: immortality._

_He spent decades looking for the secret to living forever, cutting down every foe and noble man that stood in his way to find the fountain of youth. He traveled to the ends of the earth, through the dark waters of the New World to find the shrine that harbored the fountain. And before his last dying breath, he found it, he found the secret, but it wasn't what anyone thought it was._

_Upon drinking from the fountain, his skin turned ice cold and sickly white and his heart stopped beating yet his body still moved. He felt no pain when the enemy's sword pierced his flesh and when he stood among the flames of cannon fire, the fire lapping at his body never burning a hair on his head. He embodied living death, the key to immortality: a curse._

_What that's stupid! Why would someone wanna curse themselves on purpose!_

_Luffy! Don't interrupt; I'm trying to tell you the story!_

_Well, it's kinda boring right now._

_Every story needs foundation or else you won't understand it. I'm getting to the good stuff._

_Hey, Makino! Can I have some food; I really want meat!_

_Okay, Luffy._

_It'll go on my treasure-tab!_

_Hey, hey! Telling a story here!_

_Pfft, okay, Shanks, tell your boring part of the story._

_Hmph, rude, kid, rude. Now where was I…oh yeah! The curse._

_Back in the day, before devil fruit was the way to get a leg up on rivals and the navy, pirates hunted for curses, using them to their advantage no matter the cost. They went after cursed swords that controlled their enemies own action, just a flick of the wrist and your rival would back stab themselves. And necklaces that demanded the very laws of nature; the sea would swallow ships whole, the wind would crush islands to pieces and fire would destroy armies that spread far and wide. Or even ancient treasure that changed the body to make the captain and the entire crew nothing more than skeletons when the full moon shined upon them on en eerie night. But with every curse, there was a price to pay._

_It is said that Mortalitas must sleep after his old body grows weak, and his crew must forever watch him, feeling the pain of death over and over as they protect their captain's vulnerable body at his Isle of Rest, the cove where his treasure lays. The last time anyone had seen Mortalitas in person was two hundred years ago…that is until recently…_

_What! He's still alive! Really!_

_…You just spit food all over me, kid…_

_Oh. Sorry, but really? He woke up from his sleep and now what! Is he going to kill everyone!_

_Not everyone, but truthfully, no one knows what he'll do since Roger always told us that Mortalitas had to sleep for three hundred years before he could begin his terror anew._

_So someone woke him up early?_

_Yup._

_Who would be so stupid to do that!_

_Donquixote Doflamingo, a dog of the Government and a shameful backstabbing privateer. Or the perfect one; depends on how you look at him._

_He sounds like a jerk, Shanks._

_Yeah, he is—wait! Don't sidetrack me again! Now where was I…_

_Talking about the jerk._

_Ah, yeah the jerk._

_Anyway, it is say that the Shichbukai had a sweet tooth for the cursed treasure of Mortalitas and his key to immortality. And by seer luck did the Pirate Warlord come across Mortalitas's Isle of Rest._

_The island was made of ancient stone, harder than pure steel and glistened like gold with blue lights pulsing with power to keep it hidden with a thick fog that caused ships to sink to their doom. But despite that all, Doflamingo's fleet rolled in through the thickets of fog coating the sea, some of the deadliest men and women under his command sailing to the island for a treasure that could rival One Piece itself, Roger even said so. They didn't get far though once they landed; the Titan Captain may have been slumbering as intruders came to his island, but his crew was watching, waiting._

_And the moment of attack came._

_The devils of the Titan's crew poured out from the island's seams, slipping out of the shadows like assassins at night. Their uniforms of black jackets and pants stained with years of blood as the old grey fur around their necks hid their rotting skin and masquerade masks shielded their hollow eyes from the world. Among the masses of devils came the co-captain, The Darkling Vergil. The man who stood out from his devil mates with his black trench coat stitched with rotting flesh of his former victims long dead, and his neck bare to show the first bullet hole unhealed when the crew was first attacked after the curse was planted._

_Hand on the hilt of his saber, the Darkling snarled at the invaders and then raised his free hand, both sides waiting. And that hand came down in one swift movement as the Darkling screeched, "Now!" in a demonic scratch._

_Battle erupted, blood was spilled as swords clashed and bullets flew. Doflamingo had a force that rivaled an army under a king, but the Titan devils had the life of ten armies. No matter how many times they went down they got back up, regenerating before the invading pirates eyes. Doflamingo's fleet stood strong, with their leader at the head fighting the Darkling and winning._

_Vergil went to the ground hard, his dark saber out of reach as Doflamingo's devil fruit power of invisible control wrapped around his neck like a boa, ready to choke the life repeatedly from the Darkling until Vergil would no longer rise._

_Then **bang!**_

_The blast of a flintlock came from the inner temple of the island and hit Doflamingo square in the shoulder, blood pouring out to stain the privateer's feathered pink coat. The Pirate Warlord stumbled back from his attack against the weakening Darkling, his lips pulled into a tight sneer as his gazed traveled to the one that shot him._

_The smoke clouded the image of who stood there, but when the fog parted there he stood, Mortalitas himself._

_Not a single piece of skin was exposed, the thick clothing of the Titan Captain hiding his skeletal body. The long black worn-leather coat of the captain fluttered as he walked down the steps, the tricorne hat atop his head left a dark shadow on the full faced mask made of pure gold and his bony, gloved hand held the flintlock tightly._

_Every invading pirate stood there in shellshock at the appearance, and also that their leader was so easily wounded by a simple bullet._

_Doflamingo had broken that silence with a growl that rumbled in the pits of his throat. He was not intimidated easily, nor taken down with a mere bullet. With a sneer of a grin, he darted for the Titan Captain like lightening, but only to be thrown back by Mortalitas's voodoo. The many skulls that were hooked around the captain's belt were not only for show, but for power. They were the skulls of his greatest rivals, and the Titan Captain captured their souls and trapped them, forever binding them him for protection and war._

_Doflamingo stood no chance against an immortal, he and his crew knew; you never wake a violent man from rest._

_But something went wrong._

_Mortalitas staggered where he stood, ready to fall, but his Darkling came to his aid in the blink of an eye._

_Then in a flash of crimson smoke, the Titan crew was gone and the island shook violently, threatening to sink beneath the waves to drown all those that stood upon it._

_It was a mad dash for Doflamingo and his fleet; many died in the battle or did not make it back to the ships. Doflamingo had faced a great lost, and he swore to find Mortalitas once again, to defeat the odds of the Captain Titan's legacy to avenge those under him that had died, and also to steal the key to the immortality curse._

_But something dire had happened to Mortalitas during that fight, and even though he was awake and the world knew, there was no sign of him. He went missing, his Isle of Rest becoming lost to the sea._

_They say Mortalitas and his Titan devils traveled into the dark and dangerous waters of the New World where only the fiercest of pirates travel to. To the end of the world so he can continue his slumber for another hundred years, or plan revenge against Doflamingo for disturbing his sleep._

* * *

"And that's the legend," Shanks smirked proudly, feeling rather full of himself; he was sure Roger would be proud as well.

"It was pretty good," Luffy replied, munching on his piece of dessert: a colorful fruit with a swirl design printed on the deep purple skin.

Shanks blinked blankly at the boy with fruit in hand and then glanced over to see his chest that was wide open. Then he turned back to Luffy, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets and his jaw fell open to shout: "Luffy! Did you just eat the fruit from the chest!"

"Yeah, it was a special dessert, right?" He asked, still eating the fruit. "Taste kinda nasty though…you have bad tastes in treats, Shanks."

"You idiot!" Shanks bellowed, scowling at the boy. "That's the Gomu Gomu Fruit; a devil fruit!"

"Oh? That's cool," and Luffy took another bite.

Shanks slapped a hand to his forehead, making his straw hat slide to the side of his head. "When you eat that you'll never be able to swim, ever!"

Luffy's face went blank and the fruit in his hand tumbled to the floor. There was a moment of silence and then an explosion. "_**WHAT!**_"


End file.
